Best options on this---anyone?

[Bruce Volden]

I bought this at an auction yesterday ($25 ~ gloat?), overall in good shape except for this area on the top. The veneer at the splice has seperated and is about 1/16" proud of the rest of the top. My initial thoughts are to inject CNA at the seam and cure it out with accelerator. Don't know how bad the seam will show tho' :confused: Once YOU GUYS tell me how to fix it I'm going to rub out the rest of the chest and try to make it nice for my daughters B-day in a couple weeks. Thanks all!

Bruce

[Todd Carpenter]

Hi Bruce,

One of my favorite ways to repair veneer is carpenter's glue and an old clothes iron.

You may want to remove the coating first as it will stick to the bottom of your iron.

I usually start with iron - a lot of times, the heat alone is enough to reactivate the old glue - which is usually (often?) hide glue. In your case, set the iron as hi as it will go - usually a cotton/linen setting, then, from the farthest point/side of the split, press down firmly, and slowly push the iron toward the split - the idea here is you want to push the "bubble" out toward the split. The wood should be very hot to the touch so you'll need to experiment a bit here. You also need to move slowly enough to allow the portions you've already done, to cool - anchoring the veneer back down. You can also place something flat and heavy until the ironed spots cool.

If that isn't successful - and sometimes it isn't - then, I just put some carpenter's glue on a thin putty knife and force the glue between the veneer and substrate - do not be afraid to make it worse - if it's popping off easily, then it was bound break loose anyway - just don't force it so hard you rip off veneer that glued tightly. Spread it around as well as you can, and repeat the procedure above.

I like this method because the heat helps any warping get softer, especially if you use carpenter's glue. I've fixed some rather ugly blisters, and splits where water had caused the veneer to warp badly. I have also wetted the area with a wet - not damp - washcloth before doing this just because the veneer was so dry it was really brittle.

You can use the Cyano and a kicker, but Cyanos can be odd beasts, especially when the surfaces are less than perfect, going off when they're not supposed to, and then refusing to ever cure. I use them quite a bit and they can be more trouble than they're worth.

HTH
Todd

[Bruce Volden]

Todd,

Thank you for the iron tip!!! It worked great!! I had read of this before and it never enter my mind to try it, and believe me there is a lot of room in my mind :D Now I am just gonna fiddle around and match the stain as close as I can, slap on some wax and buff her out. Once again ~ THANK YOU

Bruce

[Todd Carpenter]

Glad it worked for you!

[Larry Fox]

Another thing that you could do if it works with the design / look you are trying to achieve is to inlay a piece of pre-made marquetry. The bubble appears to be more-or-less centered. Inlays.com has quite a number of nice ones. Essentially you would be routing out the entire thing so you would be certain not to be bothered by it again. You might have to patch the substrate but that is no big deal and it won't show.